Here are two very recent true stories from Coleford in this age of non-enlightenment.

Imagine you are a lady in your 80s. You are still driving, perhaps a little slowly at times. You cherish this independence. You have your weekly routine, your normal route for getting into Coleford (by car) and your favourite 'slot' in the car park. You pay the fee, place the ticket in the car and do a bit of shopping and return to your car.

Suddenly all normality is destroyed. Your legs go weak. Surely not? Not me? But yes, there is the dreaded yellow peril stuck on the windscreen. A penalty notice. Is it my car? Yes. Am I over time? No. Is the ticket properly displayed? Yes. I then read the penalty notice. Apparently my crime is that my car was not straight in the bay, and I had accidentally and unknowingly transgressed into an adjacent bay. I look around at the half-empty car park. Who have I inconvenienced? No-one. I return home utterly disillusioned with this display of unfairness and inhumanity in my local town.

Or, another case. A man in his 70s drives into Coleford from the Wye valley – a weekly routine. He parked his car, as usual, and tried to buy a parking ticket. But the ticket machines in view were out of order. He decides to quickly do his shopping and returns to his car, only to find a yellow peril on his windscreen.

My heart goes out to these elderly people and their families and friends who must now see Coleford as a hostile place to visit, to be avoided in future. And so it is, if you routinely risk parking in the council's car parks. Because, sooner or later, you will inadvertently overstay your ticket time and pay the price.

For some people a £50 fine is not a big issue, perhaps the equivalent of just two hours' work. But for an impoverished pensioner in the Forest of Dean it is about half a week's pension. For this (potentially) vulnerable person the stark mid-winter choice may be whether to keep warm or pay the fine.

One day we will all (hopefully) reach our 70s and 80s, and enjoy reasonably good health. Let us hope that by then the powers that be in the Forest of Dean will show more humanity. I see little sign of this now at council level.

For those who are interested and are prepared to challenge this shameful situation I have the following suggestions. Firstly, car park attendants should be recruited locally, not parachuted in from Gloucester. They must have local knowledge to understand how Coleford and other towns tick. Secondly all fine money should go to Forest of Dean District Council and not to Gloucester City Council (or the car park company?) as has been suggested to me. We need complete transparency on this. Thirdly, the Forest of Dean District Council offices should have a free handout available to anyone with a parking penalty notice which explains in simple, non-legalistic language their right to challenge the penalty notice, with a member of staff available to assist where necessary. How else can the council get feedback on the 'success' or otherwise of their parking scheme?

These suggestions would help to make officialdom's new parking scheme more humane and encourage penalised drivers to risk another visit to Coleford (or Lydney, etc.). In parallel with this, a self-help citizens' organisation (or the CAB?) could establish a fighting fund to support people who wish to challenge a parking penalty notice but who are nervous or otherwise inhibited from doing so. For example, all local car drivers could be invited to put £2 or so into such a fund to get it kick-started. Then, penalised drivers could be asked to contribute £10 for case-specific support and advice. (You can Google 'Citizen's Advice – Parking tickets on private land' to read some ideas and advice. I used this to successfully ignore a parking penalty notice which just died a death.)

But the first question in my mind is whether these penalty notices are, in fact, legally enforceable. A quick search on the internet will show that many are not, for a variety of reasons. I think if a self-help group was established, with a fighting fund, we could be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Please remember that, especially this Christmas, town traders need our support just as we need theirs. We are all in this car parking mess together thanks to a handful of people who think they know better than 7,000 of us. If this is what democracy and localism in action feels like please pass me the sick bag. I don't think I can take any more spin!

Finally, I have to ask, where is the Forest of Dean District Council advice on what to do if the ticket meters are out of action? I have no idea because, to my knowledge, no such advice exists. However I have been told that relevant guidelines have recently been issued by central government. Over to all of you on Forest of Dean District Council.

Ideally, of course, our district council should resolve to suspend the car parking charges until the next election. But don't hold your breath. Just watch the spaces grow as more shops close and car parks get emptier. My wife is in Lidl at the moment. QED.

– Peter Jones.